ASICS_banner_468_60_6.2020

WIN’s 2013-14 Preseason High School Preview at 113 pounds

By
Updated: August 14, 2013

Editor’s Note: Between Aug. 8 and the start of the high school wrestling season, WIN’s high school columnist Rob Sherrill is taking a closer look at the top wrestlers in the country, weight by weight. What weight class a wrestler competes in is subject to change once the season officially begins.

By Rob Sherrill

Here’s how the top 113-pound preps finished in the WIN rankings last year, minus those who graduated:

Rk.                  Name                  Year                  Hometown / High School

1.                   Zahid Valencia                  Jr.                  Bellflower, CA / St. John Bosco

2.                   Stevan Micic                  Sr.                  Cedar Lake, IN / Hanover Central

3.                   Sean Russell                  Sr.                  Suwanee, GA / Collins Hill

4.                   Brent Fleetwood                  Sr.                  Smyrna, DE

5.                  Ke-Shawn Hayes                  Jr.                  Kansas City, MO / Park Hill

6.                  Davion Jeffries                  Jr.                  Collinsville, OK

7.                   Kaid Brock                  Jr.                  Stillwater, OK

9.                   Ethan Lizak                  Sr.                  Orefield, PA / Parkland

11.                   Scott Parker                  Sr.                  Perkasie, PA / Pennridge

12.                   Israel Saavedra                  So.                  Modesto, CA

13.                  Skyler Petry                  Sr.                  Janesville, MN / J.-Waldorf-Pemberton/Waterville-Elysian-Morristown

14.                   Nathan Boston                  Sr.                  Versailles, KY / Woodford County

15.                   Nick Piccinnini                  Jr.                  Setauket, NY / Ward Melville

19.                   Charles Tucker                  Jr.                  Blairstown Township, NJ / Blair Academy

20.                   Cameron Sykora                  Jr.                  Wheaton, MN / Border West

(tie)                   Sean DeShazer                  Jr.                  Wichita Heights, KS

(tie)                  A.C. Headlee                  Jr.                  Waynesburg, PA / Central

 

Last week, we told you about some of the incumbent 106-pounders, who likely will be at 113. Fleetwood, Lizak, Parker, Petry and Piccinnini all competed at this weight class in the off-season … albeit with a weight allowance. So did the wrestlers who squared off in the Junior National freestyle final, both of whom made appearances in the rankings at this weight last year: Elijah Oliver of Memphis (Tenn.) Christian Brothers and Brian Rossi of Lockport (Ill.).

   Off-season OW (tie): Valencia, Micic, Brock

The three share the award for different reasons.

 

Zahid Valencia, top-ranked at 113, moved up to 120 pounds to win the USAW Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls, April 6.

Zahid Valencia, top-ranked at 113, moved up to 120 pounds to win the USAW Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls, April 6.

Valencia – Nobody at this weight class went all the way to 126 pounds, let alone experienced the success he had. Valencia was one of eight double Cadet National champions, winning his final 19 matches of the week in the FargoDome. That came on the heels of wrestling up a weight class, at 132, and up an age group, in the Junior National Duals. He went 9-2, posting a win over Iowan Fredy Stroker and losing to Michigan’s Zac Hall. Also the West Junior freestyle champion, Valencia had some losses, but had more than his share of quality wins against higher-level competition.

Stevan Micic of Indiana (blue) won the 2011 Cadet national champonship.

Stevan Micic of Indiana (blue) won the 2011 Cadet national championship.

Micic – The two-time Indiana champion lived up to the hype after being named the Asics First Team member at this weight class, breezing to the FILA Cadet National title and finishing fifth in the FILA Junior National freestyle meet. He didn’t allow a point in winning all seven FILA Cadet matches by technical fall, the last over Brock in the finals.

kaid brock

Kaid Brock

 

Brock – He shook off his FILA Cadet National finals loss to Micic by going 14-0 in the Junior National Duals, winning 10 matches by technical fall, then reaching the finals in a loaded 120-pound weight class at the Junior Nationals. He lost to Ohio State University-bound Nathan Tomasello, but won a pool which included four returning champions.

Biggest win: Piccinnini, whose 7-5 victory over Luke Pletcher of Greater Latrobe (Pa.), No. 2 at 106 last year, was emblematic of the performance the New York Kong team put on in reaching the All-Star Division finals of the AAU Scholastic Duals at Disney. Piccinnini was one of four Kong gold medalists.

Expect Pletcher to be one of the stars at this weight class a year from now.

Next week: 120 pounds.